Posted to the web: 18/05/2009 04:39:22A CONGRESS
of the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) on Saturday officially
completed the pull-out from a 1987 unity accord with Zanu PF, while
retaining Dumiso Dabengwa as the interim leader.

ZAPU gave up its name in
the pact with the Zimbabwe African National Union to form the Zimbabwe
African National Union – Patriotic Front.

Senior ZAPU figures, led
by Dabengwa, announced in September last year that they were pulling
out of the agreement because the party’s supporters “had
suffered a lot of disadvantages since we went into that unity accord…
a lot of ideas that we had when we fought for the independence of this
country have not been realised.”

The congress, attended by
delegates from the country's 10 provinces, South Africa and Botswana
resolved that former ZAPU members who choose to remain in Zanu PF cease
to represent the interests of ZAPU.

Dabengwa said: “The
re-emergence of ZAPU and its extrication from the unity accord of 1987
is informed by the noble agenda which seeks to renew the Zimbabwe dream
through rebuilding infrastructure, providing economic stewardship, building
democratic institutions and respect for the rule of law, devolution
of power, human rights and civil liberties.”

He said ZAPU would restore
“respectable nationhood” where the people were “the
pivot around which proper, able and accountable leadership is elected”.

President Robert Mugabe has
reacted with fury to the ZAPU pull-out, insisting that the accord is
still intact and seeking to cast Dabengwa as a disgruntled rebel.

Dabengwa said the main driver
of the decision to join ranks with Mugabe’s party was a desire
to end a five-year brutal crackdown on ZAPU supporters and its leader
Joshua Nkomo by a special army unit set up by Mugabe which is blamed
for over 20,000 civilian deaths.

The revived party is set
to collide with Mugabe’s party after resolving to reclaim its
properties confiscated by the government.

Meanwhile, prominent
Bulawayo lawyer Steven Nkiwane will lead a committee to draw up a new
constitution for the party.

SUPPORT:
ZAPU supporters at the party's first congress after the pull-out from
Zanu PF

Leaders of the revived ZAPU
have been sensitive to accusations the party is a tribal outfit, and
Dabengwa said there would be no room for tribalists.

Canciwell Nziramasanga, his
deputy in the interim leadership, called for “vigorous national
mobilisation” and the establishment of structures across the country.